Wind turbine towers elevate wind turbines to appropriate height. Wind turbine towers also provide maintenance access to the wind turbines and support auxiliary components useful for the maintenance and operation of the wind turbines. Certain auxiliary components are placed within towers, which may be useful for protecting the auxiliary components and users of the auxiliary components from detrimental effects of weather. Examples of these internally placed components, typically referred to as “internals,” include ladders, platforms, cables, cable guides, and hardware that connects these components to the towers. Other auxiliary components, such as lights, antennae, and measurement devices, are externally attached to the towers.
Whether internally or externally attached to a tower, the auxiliary components are typically attached to the tower via fixtures (e.g., brackets, bosses, and studs) welded to the tower. Welding to the tower structure, however, can create an area with a low allowed fatigue stress (low fatigue detail category), which can require the tower to have thicker walls. That is, for the same loading, if the allowed stress in the material is reduced, the material thickness must be increased so that the load forces can act over a larger area. Thus, by requiring thicker material, attaching the auxiliary components to the tower via fixtures welded to the tower adds both weight and cost to the tower. Accordingly, there remains a need for improved techniques for attaching auxiliary components to towers.